


a shoulder to cry on

by ardj18



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Nile-centric, Platonic Cuddling, Team as Family, background Joe/Nicky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:14:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25512667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ardj18/pseuds/ardj18
Summary: It's three months after her newfound immortality kicks in, and Nile is dreaming of Quynh. It's not a nightly occurrence, but it's frequent enough that nothing seems strange until suddenly the dream shifts, and it's Nile's mother staring out at her from that iron coffin, while her brother stands beside her, screaming for Nile to "Save her! Save her!"Nile wakes up sobbing.Or: Nile hits her emotional breaking point, but Joe and Nicky are there to comfort her.
Relationships: Nile Freeman & Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani & Nicky | Nicolo di Genova
Comments: 13
Kudos: 247





	a shoulder to cry on

**Author's Note:**

> Just a short and sweet idea that wouldn't leave my head. The inspiration for this is a combo of the nightmare scene and the reunion scene at the beginning where we see that Joe and Nicky give excellent hugs.

It's three months after her newfound immortality kicks in, and Nile is dreaming of Quynh. It's not a nightly occurrence, but it's frequent enough that nothing seems strange until suddenly the dream shifts, and it's Nile's mother staring out at her from that iron coffin, while her brother stands beside her, screaming for Nile to "Save her! Save her!"

Nile wakes up sobbing. 

She pulls her knees to her chest and tries to be quiet, all too aware of Nicky and Joe sleeping at the other end of the room. It's a small safe house. But try as she might, she can't quite manage to get herself under control, not when it feels like everything she’s ever mourned is welling up in her chest at once. She buries her face in her knees and thinks perhaps she's managed to muffle the worst of the noise, but then the bed dips next to her and she looks up to see Nicky sitting next to her, his eyes full of concern. He wraps his arm around her shoulders and pulls her close. 

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asks. 

Part of her does, because if anyone could understand what she's going through, surely it would be Nicky. But then, part of her brain reminds her that Nicky wouldn't really understand, because he doesn't dream of Quynh this way, not like her and Booker. And besides, Nicky has always had Joe, has never mentioned anything about his former family. So maybe he would understand, and maybe he wouldn't, but she doesn't have the mental space to deal with it right now, either way. So she shakes her head no, and Nicky nods, but doesn't loosen his grip on her. 

Within a few minutes, though, it's clear Nile isn't going to be able to get herself under control, at least not any time soon. She’d probably be embarrassed if she wasn’t so overwhelmed. Without a word, Nicky tugs her gently to her feet and steers her across the room to the bed where Joe is sitting up against the wall, blinking like he's still half asleep. But half asleep or not, he smiles sympathetically at Nile when Nicky nudges her onto the bed and immediately leans forward to engulf her in a hug. 

And for the first time in a long time--since long before her death, even--Nile lets herself truly and properly break down. She tucks her head against Joe's neck and sobs, feeling his arms around her and Nicky behind her, rubbing soothing circles into her back. The last time she hugged someone like this was before she was deployed, when she was saying goodbye to her mom. The realization makes her cry even harder. 

She's cried since everything happened, sure, but she hasn't let herself be quite this vulnerable, hasn't let herself  _ grieve _ so completely for everything--her family, her friends, her old life, her mortality, hell, even for Quynh, who she'll never know except in nightmares, and for Andy, who she'll have to lose someday too. 

Nile cries until she doesn't have any tears left, and only then does Joe move, maneuvering them so they're lying down, his arms still around her. She feels Nicky settle behind her and knows without looking that he's lying facing the door, the way she's seen him sleep everywhere they've been, his body the first line of defense between Joe and any potential danger. And now her, too. 

And she thinks that maybe this should be weird, but at the moment all she feels is exhausted and emotional and  _ safe, _ with Joe holding her and Nicky solid and protective at her back. So she closes her eyes and lets herself bask in that feeling of safety until she drifts off to sleep.

When she wakes up, Joe and Nicky are both still asleep, Joe’s arm still wrapped loosely around her shoulders, his other arm reaching across her to rest on Nicky’s bicep. Movement catches her eye, and Nile glances up to see Andy leaning in the doorway of the bedroom, a quiet smile on her face as she observes the three of them. 

It’s not that all her grief feels any smaller in the light of day, but maybe her shoulders feel a little stronger, a little more capable of bearing it all if she can have these three (four, she reminds herself--Booker isn’t gone forever, even if a hundred years still seems like an eternity to her) by her side, this family they’ve carved for themselves out of blood and pain and history. A family Nile gets to be part of. 

It doesn’t make everything magically better, but it makes it bearable. Livable. And that, Nile thinks to herself, returning Andy’s smile, is pretty fucking good. 

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk to me on Tumblr at teatraysandtypewriters!


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